SURREY V SOMERSET at Guildford (SSCC1), 20-23 JUNE 2018

Second plays host to first. Both teams have won three out of five and are yet to be beaten in this season’s County Championship. Surrey have overcome Yorkshire and scored their first home and away double over Hampshire since 2002, while, interestingly, all of Somerset’s victories have come at Taunton (against Worcestershire, then Yorkshire and more recently Notts).

Guildford will be celebrating its 80th anniversary. Since 1938, Woodbridge Road has staged 76 County Championship clashes - 35 of which Surrey have won. Almost half of their 17 defeats there have come since 2003.

Matt Renshaw has scored three championship hundreds this season and, each time, the Cidermen have gone on to win. In their other two games, the 22-year-old Australian contributed just 77 runs. Renshaw is averaging 59.00 with the bat, plus James Hildreth (50.75) and Steven Davies (41.57) have also looked in fine fettle. The main concern for Somerset has been Ed Byrom's form (50 runs in five visits to the crease).

With the England Lions in action, the visitors will be without Craig Overton, so expect Tim Groenewald to come back in to partner Lewis Gregory with the new ball. Gregory has taken 18 championship wickets at 24.88 thus far, but the dark horses are Tom Abell (11 poles at 17.27) and Josh Davey (11 at 17.90).

The last championship clash between Somerset and Surrey to be won by the side batting first was way back in 2000, at the Oval where Surrey galloped to victory by an innings and 213 runs. Since then the two have gone head-to-head on 16 occasions, in which both have won three (all by a wickets margin, rather than runs) with ten game being drawn.

Surrey v Somerset - First-Class Records Sheet

Surrey's championship record at Guildford since 1995:

Theunis de Bruyn looks set to make his Surrey debut; similarly 19-year-old Will Jacks is on the brink of making his first-class debut. Mark Stoneman (9,884) now has 10,000 first-class runs in his sights, while Somerset's Steven Davies (11,944) and Matt Renshaw (2,994) have 12,000 and 3,000 in theirs.

New overseas signing Theunis de Bruyn is named in Surrey's 14-man squad, as are Gareth Batty, Arun Harinath, Will Jacks and Mathew Pillans. Both Currans, Ben Foakes and Jason Roy are all on England duty of sorts, while Conor McKerr (side strain) and Stuart Meaker (rib) are said to be on the road to recovery.

Let's face it, Surrey just don't win at Guildford. Indeed, some Surrey fans have never seen their team win a championship game at Guildford. They’ve lost each of their last four at Woodbridge Road and haven’t won there since 2002. Prior to that the hosts won eight on the trot! So, even though the hosts (despite a number of absentees) match up well on paper the best that can be expected is a draw, which, I suspect, would suit both sides if they were pushed.

M.Renshaw, E.Byrom, G.Bartlett, A.Hildreth, T.Abell (capt), S.Davies (wk), L.Gregory, D. Bess, T.Groenewald, J.Davey and J.Leach.

Ian Blackwell and Nick Cook.

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